Solar Eventide
by Axciom
Summary: Russ and Ashlee are a happily married couple in medical school, but are haunted by a secret they know but don't understand. There's a deep secret locked in Ashlee's past, and unknownst to the both of them they and the Cullens are about to find out...
1. Prologue

They were everywhere.

They've finally cornered us, the soulless, mindless, frighteningly deadly automations had finally tracked us down, and we were about to die.

Surrounded by my enemies, I growled low, if for no one else's benefit but my own. These semi-living soldiers could hear my threat, but lacked the care or even the ability to register it. I turned to the reason for my existence, the essence of my soul, my Ashlee, and squeezed her hand for what would most likely be the last time.

"I love you," I whispered through what would be tear streaked eyes, if such a thing were possible. "Until the end of time," she replied softly, quoting the inscription on our wedding bands.

I slowly crouched into a position that was burned into my bones, with skill that surpassed others of my kind with centuries of more experience.

Behind me, my love shivered, although it was blisteringly hot. She was afraid. I would fight for her until there was literally nothing left of me.

I raised a vicious battle cry, enough to make even the lifeless devils pause for one second. Ashlee began to gather the force within her and I charged my first target.

She unleashed the power that saved us, and the power that damned us.


	2. Exordium

"No no no, John Russell Toms that does NOT go there!"

I sighed dejectedly, and removed the pan from the cabinet I had been placing it in. My wife, my personal angel, glared at me, and I couldn't hold back a sheepish smile. She was just too beautiful when she got agitated, and being absent minded about where certain dishes went aggravated her to no end.

I placed the pan in question in what I assumed was the proper cabinet and moved behind Ashlee to wrap my arms around her. I breathed in the heavenly scent of her thick, blonde hair and wrapped my arms around her, kissing her on the neck. My ploy worked, she _loved _neck kisses.

"Mister, you _know_…" she tapered off, arching her neck back to fully experience my wandering lips. In 30 seconds we had both forgotten whatever it was we were doing, and simply took pleasure in each others arms.

If there was a heaven, it certainly couldn't be far from this.

We stood in our little kitchen, in the student apartment complex (being married certainly had its benefits when it came to student housing) holding each other, savoring in the moment. Before I could completely sedate myself in Ashlee's arms, she slowly pulled away and finished outing the dishes up.

As we were finishing up, reality crept back into our conversation.

"Have you worked on your Neuroanatomy paper since last night?" Ashlee asked me as she was loading up the dishwasher.

"Why yes ma'am, I have! I worked on it during my class break…really amazing stuff." Ashlee rolled her eyes, but smiled.

She was two years ahead of me in med school; I had initially graduated with a degree unrelated to medicine, and went to work as a web designer. Two years into my career I wanted to hang myself. I was absolutely miserable, and made what I then thought was the hardest decision of my life: pursue my real dreams, no matter the cost.

Ashlee, however, was a different story. She's genuinely one of a kind in most every way imaginable, and her determination was no exception. She decided right out of high school that medicine was her true calling, and hasn't looked back since.

When I did make the decision to turn my life in a different direction, I had expected her to completely lose it, to tell me never quit what I had started, that it was too late to start over. Naturally, she completely surprised me with her full support, regardless of how long the journey took…she truly wanted me to be happy. I realized some time later that all the things I expected of her were little more than my own foolish reasons for not committing.

I looked though the window into the night time sky, wishing to the heavens that even one star could pierce through the night lights of the city. I was soon joined by Ashlee, who seemed to have similar thoughts. The blackish gray sky offered no starlight, and very seldom did.

We were both raised far from cities, both of us hailing from country roots. Although I was a bit nervous that we would not fit in with the natives of New Orleans, they seemed to be every bit as crazy, drunken, and down to earth as the people Ashlee and I both grew up with.

"You miss them too, huh?" she wondered quietly, peering out the window at the sky.

"Oh yeah I do," I responded.

Ashlee sighed, and continued to stare at the sky.

"I do miss the clear, night time sky," she sighed.

"I know love," I answered, stroking her face as we continued to peer out the window. "I know it's a bit redundant to say this, but don't forget why we're here."

Ashlee nodded fervently, and at once we were both remembering the vows we had made to each other, and to ourselves.

We were both the black sheep from our respective families. I had personally never held much interest in school, but apparently even though I'd never much cared for it, I had the ability to push myself through anything, if given a good enough reason.

Ashlee had always insisted we were on equal ground intelligence wise, but I never bought it. She was my scholarly opposite; where I was for the most part of my life I was apathetic towards school, Ashlee always strived above and beyond, landing her at the top of her classes.

Once I had made the decision to take the plunge towards med school, Ashlee and I had made vows to each other and to ourselves to never give up, to fight and push ourselves until it was literally impossible to give any more. We did it for ourselves, and our family...a bit cheesy to say it, but we were the brightest hope to take care of our parents, and everyone that was precious to us.

Of course, there were some days I wondered if we were both suffering from an overblown masochist complex.

I walked away from the window in our little living room and walked into the apartment's one bathroom, and began to brush my teeth, and prepare for bed. I gave a quick once over at my body, built by generations of career manual labor and shaped into a fighter's physique. I sighed…it had been a few years since my last fight. And it showed…if only a little.

I ran a hand through my short, brown hair, and frowned at the singular gray hair the poked stubbornly from of the side of my head. "Seriously…25 years old and a gray hair?" I mumbled to myself, and I heard Ashlee choke back a muffled laugh.

Naturally, she had not one sign of aging on her entire body. Her hair was as blond and beautiful as the day I met her. Her eyes were every bit as blue and sharp as they had always been…unless, of course, you saw her under one single condition.

It was a condition that no one knew. Know one could ever know.

I turned the light out in the bathroom and hopped into bed, where Ashlee was already waiting for me. Like the rest of our apartment, our bedroom was small, as was the adjacent bedroom that we had made into an office. Our room was my favorite room in the house…the air was cooler and crisper…and I knew in here I had my love's undivided attention.

"So, mister," Ashlee began, as she did most nights, "What are _you _gonna be when you grow up?" With each word she spoke she crawled up my body until her head was resting on the place that my arm joined my shoulder, and stayed there.

I grinned, and cross my eyes at her, and put on a fake super happy face. "I gonna be me a DOC-TAH!" I continued to cross my eyes and grin like an idiot until Ashlee completely broke down into giggles. Hearing her full, loud laugh was the fuel that warmed my soul…I could never hear enough of it, and it certainly would never grow old.

"Oh, I love that," she said more quietly, and settled even deeper into my shoulder. I kissed her on the forehead, and rubbed her back as I contemplated the way thing we going, and was happy.

Here I was, chasing my dream, with my soul mate running right beside me. Racing me, even. Ashlee certainly had a competitive side but she competed harder with herself than anyone, if that makes any sense. I was as happy as I could possibly be.

Reality bore its ugly head into our happy little room, as the clouds broke and revealed a full moon into the window that was behind our bed. I was reminded of the great mystery that neither Ashlee nor I had ever understood, much less solved, that only brought itself out during a full moon. Ashlee looked through the window, and a small gasp escaped her lips.

"Full moon," She mouthed wordlessly.

She was correct. It was a full moon.

And her eyes were no longer the eyes I loved, they each had one star, her blue irises surrounded around those stars.

It was a mystery that Ashlee had revealed to me 6 months before we were married, the same night that she had revealed to me that her parents were actually her adoptive parents.

The coincidence was not lost on me.

However much research we did after that concerning her condition yielded no results, however. If it was a disease, it certainly had no other effects on her. It was something we had to accept, even if we never understood it.

"You still aren't afraid?" She asked me, fear on the outskirts of her face.

"Oh come on!" I exclaimed with overly mocking exasperation. "If you were gonna run me off, you would have done it _long_ before now. You're stuck with me, forever! You know that." I had risen up to look at her as I spoke, and once I was done I dramatically flopped back onto the bed for added effect.

Ashlee smiled a peaceful smile, but then furrowed her brow.

"It upsets me that we still have found nothing...I mean, _nothing_," she said, the old worry in her voice apparent.

I sat up again, and wrapped my arms around her. "Well, we know that it isn't a disease, you aren't dying, and you certainly aren't turning into an elf or a fairy or a..._vampire._"

Despite everything, Ashlee giggled at the prospect. "I guess not," she said.

We knew that she had always been like this, as long as she could remember, which, admittedly, wasn't far back. She remembered nothing of her childhood. Anything before her 12th birthday, before she was adopted by her parents, was a mystery.

"Well, _I _think they're beautiful," I stated wistfully. Ashlee was everything, how could I possibly even fathom fear of her? It was like being afraid of my lungs, illogical.

"Well, I'm glad one of us does. Do you think we can do one more round of research at the library soon?" Ashlee asked.

I nodded, and yawned loudly. "If you'd like. But for now, lets get some sleep. Got to have a full night's rest for another day of Dr. Cullen kicking my ass in Neuroanatomy."

Ashlee rolled her eyes again, and rolled over, barely managing to mutter a "Good night, love" over her back before immediately passing out.

I kissed her shoulder, then rolled over myself.

"Good night, Ashlee."

******

"Clorplaction solutions are are commonly used in the medical practice as a wash that, at very low gradients, can be used to clean wounds and remove necrotic debris from massive infections."

Ever since his first lecture, I was mystified on how Dr. Cullen taught his lectures without a textbook, notes, or even so much as an outline. The shockingly handsome professor was unlike the rest of my professors; they were all well versed in their own field, but compared to Dr. Cullen they were little more than bumbling idiots using leeches to get the bad blood out.

Moreover, he was by leaps and bounds the most engaging, interesting professor that I had ever come across, including my undergraduate professors. (And while we're at it, let's throw in any high school and elementary school teacher I had, why not?) He never had a bad day, never acted rude or hard-nosed towards his students, and almost seemed to draw in his class to whatever the lecture of the day was.

The lecture carried on and I tried my hardest to absorb every bit of information that Dr. Cullen was bestowing to the class. As I outlined the lecture, I wondered for the millionth time how a man that looked to be no older than me spoke with what seemed to be decades of experience. I shook my head and continued to write.

Class passed swiftly. Dr. Cullen finished up, and as soon as class was over motioned for me to come see him at the podium. I grinned at him widely, and casually strolled down the small stairs that cut down the middle of the lecture room, nearly knocking over Lydia Scherring as she was gathering per bags. I stopped just short of sending her head over heels down the stairs.

Dr. Cullen had a small, warm smile on his face. "Poor girl," he remarked once I had made it to the front of the class. "She reminds me of someone I...used to know."

"Oh yeah?" As asked, almost rhetorically. He didn't answer, so I let it drop.

"So Dr. Cullen, what's up?"

"Ah yes, just wanted to check in and see how everything is going," he said.

"Uh...I'm...good? This isn't about the previous exam is it, because I know it was an 87, but..." Dr. Cullen waved away my concerns, and broke into a kindhearted smile, his odd amber eyes twinkling warmly.

"No, Mr. Toms, I was truly checking on you. I'm glad you told me a while ago about you and your wife's background...stories like yours make me glad that I started teaching again."

I scratched the back of my head, and could feel my cheeks flushing.

"Thank you Dr. Cullen...my wife and I are working really hard."

Dr. Cullen's eye lit up even more than they were before, and put his arm around me and motioned for me to walk with him.

"Ah yes! Ashlee! I hear from my peers that she's knocking home runs in all of her classes." He stopped and looked around and over his shoulder, then leaned closer to me. "Dr. Arbeneaux is worried that Ashlee is going to upstage her every time she walks into the classroom."

I laughed loudly, and shook my head. "Yeah...Ashlee doesn't jack around when it's time to take care of business. And well...acing her classes is her business."

He nodded, and looked away, deep in thought. "Yes...yes it is. Well Mr. Toms, you'll have to excuse me..."

"Oh, right! I need to be going too. Nice talking to you Dr. Cullen!"

He gave a short bow, and smiled at me. "I'll talk to you soon Mr. Toms."

******

I slowly made my way through the clumps of students that crowded the walkway and made my way to my truck, a single cab '99 Toyota Tacoma. The thing was a trooper; I had owned it for over 10 years, and I never had any big problems with it. In recent months smaller issues had arisen from it, but I had a certain friend that was amazing beneath a hood.

As if on cue, I noticed a huge, hulking figure leaning casually on the back of my truck, staring idly at the highway that lined the outer parking lot. The figure was massive; his ridiculously wide shoulders supported gargantuan neck, shoulder and back muscles, his arms almost the size of my head. Now, being an inch shy of 6 feet tall, I wasn't exactly used to looking up to anyone to carry on a conversation, but the man standing at my truck was very close to 7 feet tall. His dark complexion and long, dark hair, along with the rest of him, practically screamed fighter.

The best linebacker in LSU history turned around and broke into a wide grin, his white teeth a stark contrast with his dark skin. "What's up redneck!" he shouted, loud enough that people passing by stop, then shook their heads and kept walking.

Of course, everyone knew who Jacob Black was, but _very_ few had the courage to actually strike up a conversation with him.

"Not bad, chief," completing our silly ritual where we greeted each other with insults. It was a bit of an inside joke actually; our friendship had sparked from a dispute that happened not long after I started back to school.

Jacob was my assigned lab partner in Gen Chem, and he was perturbed that a "redneck from nowhere Arkansas" was solving problems faster than he was, and informed me of such. I then made questionable comments about his intelligence, and in the course of 10 seconds we had thrown the table into the wall and were really, really close to throwing down in the middle of a chemistry lab full of terrified students and one mousy, horrified lab professor. He stared at me momentarily, then grinned, as if I had passed some test, and stuck his hand out. We've been good friends ever since.

"So, Mr. Linebacker, what's the good news?" I asked my burly friend.

"Ah, not much," he replied. "Came to check on that clutch I put in."

I rolled my eyes. "You so did _not _ put that thing in yourself."

Jacob was a mechanical genius, but I was far from an inept mechanic myself. Growing up in the country had its perks, and learning how to fix anything with a motor as it broke was definitely one of them. Jacob had natural talent, and his ability was a boon for my aging Tacoma.

"Hey, if you wanna count banging a hammer against the ground for an hour, then yeah, you helped."

"Certainly no worse than the last time we tried doing the double date thing with our wives," I jabbed.

"Hey, that waiter was practically _begging _ me to break his nose...you know Nessie still hasn't forgiven me for that."

I grinned and nodded. Resemee, Jacob's new wife, whom he had been dating for years, was in her own way as unique as Ashlee was. She certainly looked around Jacob's age, but spoke with a demeanor that was at times far beyond her years.

The few times we had spent as couples amazed me...Ashlee and Nessie would bounce between debating calculus theories and arguing over which gossip website had the juiciest info.

"Yeah well...I bet next time he won't insult a Quileute's wife that visits that restaurant, I bet."

"Hell yeah man!" Jacob raised from leaning on my truck, extending to his full height. _Jesus he's tall,_ I thought for the millionth time.

"Speaking of, how is Renesmee? She taking to college ok?" I queried.

"Yeah, she's doing breezing through...man if I had just half of her brain..."

"...then you wouldn't be breaking almost every football record in the school's history," I smirked, completing his sentence for him. " I mean...you can only rip the quarterback's arms off so many times before people start noticing."

Jacob, obviously, received a coveted full ride scholarship to play for the LSU Tigers, referred to by the locals lovingly as the "Bayou Bengals." I've always found it humorous how he can be such a happy-go-lucky guy and on game day turn into a frothing monster on the field. I'm pretty sure he gives his opponents nightmares for months after the game.

I suddenly remembered Ashlee and I's plans for the weekend, and changed the subject. "You up for some fishing this weekend? June bugs have been dive bombing our porch all week." For those that aren't fishing savvy, June bugs resemble small beetles and when they swarm, it's one of the best indicators for Red Ear Bream season starting.

"Nah, Nessie and I are going to visit her family over the weekend. She's been dying to catch up with her mom."

"All right man, suit yourself. You know Ashlee woulda kicked your ass anyways..." I jeered. Jacob really made it too easy. Of course, he knew I was right. Ashlee had an oddly strong affection for fishing and had the uncanny ability to catch more fish than anyone else in the boat.

I pulled my keys out of my pocket, opened the door and slid in. I cranked the truck up, and rolled my window down. "Hey Jake, you wanna ride?"

Jacob looked longingly into the distance, and shook his head. "Not this time big man. I think it's a nice day for a jog." _Big man, eh? _I thought. I was bigger than the average guy (I was once involved in martial arts after all), but I was hardly the giant thatJacob was.

"Alright man, take care."

Jacob gave me a slight wave at me, managing to scare some poor chem grad student silly.

****

"Wait wait....I got another one!"

Ashlee yanked on her cane pole and quickly jerked the line, pulling in yet another fish. "Huh," I grunted. "Got a bluegill that time."

Ashlee stuck her tongue out and grinned. If it's in the creek (or bayou, around here), Ashlee was gonna catch it.

It was typical weather in the swamp, blisteringly hot and even more humid. I leaned back in my small, home made chair and took in the sight around us. Knob-like Cypress trees lined either shore of the small waterway, almost every one of them draped in moss. I kept my eye on the water as we fished, wary of water moccasins and other snakes...some of the nastier ones had been known to strike the unwary fisherman, if given enough reason.

We sat in a small jonboat in the middle of Lafourche Bayou, which wasn't far from where Ashlee's adoptive brother and the rest of her in-laws lived. In Louisiana, you learn really quick that almost all of the natives are related to each other in some way or another, and it provided for a very strong community mindset.

Of course, having a big family made for some drinking parties of legendary proportions...if south Louisiana didn't consist of mostly water, I'm pretty sure Ashlee's in-laws alone would have already torched half of the state on random drunken dares.

"So what's the count, babe? 35 to 22?" Ashlee jeered. I just smiled and nodded...no matter how many years I'd spent on the water, I didn't have the gift like Ashlee did.

"Oh, something like that. You having fun?"

She nodded fervently, and then re-baited her hook and casted out again. I decided my poor cricket had seen enough action and re-baited myself.

And so the afternoon went, catching fish with my love, both of us complete in our element. I alternated between actually fishing, counting my lucky stars that I married this heavenly woman of mine, and keeping an eye on our surroundings.

It was that protective instinct of Ashlee that sensed something was amiss.

The swamp seemed...quieter. I focused on the sounds that had been the natural ambiance, and noticed that it was strangely quiet. The birds weren't singing, the frogs were silent...our surroundings were almost completely muted save the sound of the water gliding around the boat as we floated.

"Ashlee...listen. You hear that?" She looked around, and narrowed her eyes. "No, I don't hear...anything."

"Exactly. This is...weird."

I immediately started scanning the shores on both sides of the bayou...there. I saw something flit from one tree to the next.

"You see that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes as I pointed in the direction I saw the disturbance.

Ashlee shook her head. I eyed the 20 Gauge shotgun that I had brought along in the event of a snake sighting, and had a dreadful feeling that I would need it for a far different reason.

"We need to get off the water," I said suddenly, and Ashlee's eyes quickly filled with fear. "Russ," she asked, "What's going on?"

"I don't know honey, but something isn't right." I grabbed the oar and started rowing towards the shore. I shook my head, despite the situation. This sounded like the start of a cheesy horror movie.

I helped Ashlee of the boat, and heard a swooshing sound behind me. I spun around to face behind me, putting myself between Ashlee and the direction the sound came from. What I saw made me freeze.

We we no longer alone.

A man stood in front of me, standing almost as tall as me. His stringy blonde hair hung near his shoulders, but that was the least odd thing about him. His skin was ash white, and his eyes...his eyes were blood red. Despite the situation, I felt a weird sense of familiarity...

The man cocked his head, in almost a quizzical fashion, and smiled, revealing stark white teeth. I grimaced instinctively.

"Good evening," he said in a strangely alluring voice. "I am Ethan." He bowed slightly, then broke into a full grin. There were no good intentions behind it, and I tensed up. This man, whoever he was, wasn't here to give us merry wishes and send us on our way.

"Please excuse me for saying so...but you two look delicious."


	3. Infection

I immediately crouched into a defensive position, and moved in front of Ashlee. I swore mentally. _The shotgun is still in the boat, _I realized. I highly doubted that Mr. Ethan-serial rapist would allow me to make it back to the boat before he attacked.

Ethan looked extremely dangerous, but I wasn't about to let him do whatever it is he wanted to do without a fight. I silently and quickly prepared myself mentally for battle, analyzing my enemy the way I had been trained to, spotting possible weak points. He still stood erect, completely unguarded.

I realized that was a very, very bad thing.

"Ah, a fellow warrior...it's been so long since I've played with someone like you." Even though I didn't think it possible, he grinned even wider. "Let's see what you got!" I looked over my shoulder and muttered, "Go for the gun if you can love. Stay as far back as possible, and don't draw attention to yourself." She looked mortified, all the blood drained from her face.

My sentiments were similar. This was a possibly fatal situation.

I focused on my target, and took off in a sprint. Right before I collided with him, I spun around his body until I was facing his backside, and jumped up and delivered a spinning kick to the side of his head.

I might as well have kicked a concrete wall.

I landed and somersaulted back to give myself some space. Ethan turned, and I realized my kick hadn't even _fazed_ him. My ankle throbbed; yep, it was sprained.

I screamed, gathering all of my strength and threw a punch that connected straight with his jaw, and immediately pulled it back. Again, no effect, and now I had a sprained ankle _and _a sprained wrist.

_This is NOT _ _going good,_ I thought.

"Oh, that wasn't very nice," Ethan glowered, and I was filled with a black dread. Up until this point he hadn't even attempted to defend himself, and I had connected two blows that should have knocked his head off his shoulders. Instead, he was completely unharmed...and he crouched and growled, "My turn."

I barely even saw him coming. He moved with a speed that was little more than a blur, and suddenly there was a debilitating, wrenching pain in my gut, and I was flying through the swamp. I was airborne for over three seconds, and smacked into a tree, wrapped around it and fell to the ground.

Blackness threatened to overtake my consciousness, and I realized that Ashlee was now utterly defenseless. Fighting the abyss of unconsciousness, I hauled myself back on my feet, and saw Ethan walking toward me, with an amused expression on his face.

"You fly well...human."

I stared blankly, wondering if I'd heard correctly. Somehow, what he said clicked things into place in my head.

_Of course_, I thought. _He can't be human, _no one_ is this strong_.

I had no idea what he was, but I knew that Ashlee and I were way over our heads. Keeping her safe and alive is the only thing that kept me standing, but only just. I couldn't even raise my arms to defend myself.

Time stood still. There was no wind, no sounds from the swamp, just my heavy breathing and the barely audible steps of the living nightmare walking toward me at a leisurely pace. This was it. I was about to die, and for the first time in my life, there was absolutely no way I could fight back.

I fought back tears as despair set in. I prayed to God and whoever else might be listening that Ashlee had managed to escape. I decided right then that was the last thing I could do for her...distract this _thing_ long enough that she can run away.

I swayed slightly, then shook my head, willing myself to focus. I had no chance of even fending him off, but perhaps I could goad him into delaying the inevitable.

"So..Ethan," my voice rasped out of my throat, "You often kick the crap out of your victims?" I honestly had no idea what he planned on doing to me, or even why he was doing it, but we weren't exactly sitting down for a picnic.

"Oh no," he drolled. "I usually go straight for the neck, but when I find fun ones, like you, I'll see what they're made of."

I stared at him for a full five seconds, speechless. For the _neck?_ What kind of freak was he?

Before I could click everything together, Ethan grinned and said, "Well, without further ado..." Before I could try to hold him off any longer, I saw the same streak I saw the first time Ethan rushed me.

My time, it seemed, had run out.

The first thing I felt was a sharp, searing pain in my neck. _Holy mother of God, _I thought. I was too shocked to even feel the pain initially. _He's BITING me!_

Seconds after Ethan bit down, I felt my muscles weaken even further and my balance leave me. He was literally sucking my life force from me...he was _drinking_ my blood!

I screamed weakly, lifting my head for the last time, hoping to see that Ashlee had left the area. My eyes locked over Ethan's shoulder, and squeaked, horrified.

Ashlee hadn't ran. Ashlee had _followed _us.

My vision blurred, went black, then came back red. I couldn't believe my failing eyes at first, but Ashlee was actually staring at the ground, whispering.

She wasn't inaudible for long.

She started muttering, and I caught what she was saying.

"Get away from my husband." Ashlee lifted her head and faced my attacker.

"_Get away from my husband." _I don't the she even realized it, but Ashlee brought her hands in front of her, as if she were clutching a beach ball. At this point I KNEW I was almost gone. I could have sworn that a rainbow like substance was surrounding the ground she stood on.

"GET AWAY FORM MY HUSBAND!"

Ashlee threw her hands out, fully stretching out on either side of her body. The rainbow (which I still thought, in my failing thoughts, probably wasn't real) constricted around her body, then released in a circular fashion.

Then the funniest thing happened.

Ethan went from drawing my blood from my body, to screaming and burning.


	4. Inferno

Ethan had caught fire.

This was no ordinary fire, I mean he was _blazing_. I pushed away from him with the last of my strength and flopped on the ground, almost losing conscious thought again.

I looked up in time to see my assailant burn. He flailed around, screaming, and quickly burned into little more than ashes. _What happened to his bones...and stuff..._ I thought groggily.

"Ashlee!" I croaked. "You're...alive...what..." I coughed.

"Shhh baby don't talk, please don't talk, oh God..." She tucked her hair behind her ears, leaned down beside me, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

"I've got to call someone...we have to get you to the hospital!"

To this day I don't know why he came to my mind. Maybe it was my life flashing before my eyes, which his image was a part of, or maybe it was my jumbled, confused mind trying to salvage everything it could and commit to damage control. But in that second, I knew the one man that could help me survive this. He had more knowledge, more practice, and more resolve than any doctor I had ever witnessed.

"No....Ashlee...call...Dr. Cullen...my phone...pocket..."

And that was it. That was the very last bit of my strength. I was out like a light.

****

Oblivion was easy. Painless. No harm could come to me there, but I realized that oblivion was alone, an endless sea of nothingness.

Ashlee needed me. She needed her husband, and I pushed back against the abyss that was swallowing me, for her. I could almost see her, kicking me in the butt and flooring me with her dazzling smile when I started picking myself up.

My thoughts grew warm, and I found myself opening my eyes staring at a moving tree line. I looked around as best I could, and realized that_ something _was carrying me.

Ah, my head was fuzzy and warm. It kept getting warmer and warmer, and I wondered if someone had turned a space heater on me. I tried to motion to anyone that would pay me mind to turn it off.

The temperature increased. I wasn't warm anymore, I was getting hot, hotter holy mother of God, I was burning!

"AAAAAAAAAAGH!" I screamed in a not-so-feeble voice. I was getting stronger for some strange reason, but I barely paid that any mind. Why in God's name had someone set me ablaze?!

If someone had doused me in gasoline and hit me with a flamethrower, it wouldn't be a tenth, even a millionth of the pain I was feeling.

Hell itself couldn't burn like this.

My strength disappeared again as I feebly tried to swat the flames that had to be on my body. I glanced down the front of my chest bewilderedly, and realized that I was, in fact, not in flames seconds before my vision went red again. I continued to writhe in pain, and my vision cleared just enough to realize that I had stopped moving, but couldn't make out where I was.

What had I done to deserve this? Why was I burning in what could only be the pits of hell itself? Time stopped, there was no vision, nothing that I could or wanted to hear, there was only pain...scorching, searing, charring, unadulterated _pain._

Even in the thralls of the ultimate torment, with time bearing no meaning to me, I still felt the blissful, pure connection tug at my heart, and I knew that my soul mate was near. My awareness cleared slightly, enough to realize that Ashlee _was _sitting beside me, and I knew that watching me writhe in pain had to be tearing her apart. I summoned every ounce of self control I could muster, and quieted my voice. I willed myself to be silent, for Ashlee.

The pain didn't increase, and I understood the grim reality of my situation.

Screaming helped none.

It seemed like centuries, or ages that I laid prostrate, with Ashlee holding my hand. It was her touch, her connection that was my sole anchor to sanity.

After a time, though, I was amazed that I wasn't babbling incoherently like a madman. My fears only got worse when I heard a voice speaking...

"You're going to have to move into the next room. He's going to be...dangerous soon."

Through the blazing inferno in my ears I heard what sounded to be a very violent protest, but Ashlee's hand was removed from mine, and my anchor was lost.

I continued to suffer, now alone, but people that I didn't recognize spoke to me from time to time. One voice, in particular, sounded vaguely familiar, but in the thralls of my personal hell I couldn't be sure anything really existed anymore.

"Russ, you're changing. The bite that you were inflicted with is making you a new person." A pause...was the person beside me shivering?

"You're becoming...a vampire."

Yep, that's it, ballgame, I was sure I'd completely lost it. The voice (which I now suspected was in my head) had informed me that I was becoming a vampire. Well, since I certainly wasn't going anywhere, and I was confident that my sanity was waning anyway, I continued to listen.

"You're becoming a different species. One...like us." I was around others like...I was becoming. I started to sincerely hope that this voice I was hearing was just that...a voice. If it was real, and whoever was telling me this was right, my entire existence was about to change, permanently and irrevocably.

"One thing you can be certain about...this burning will pass. In fact, it should end very soon." I took comfort in that...this torment isn't permanent, then.

"Once you awaken, you will have senses that you have never experienced before. Your sight, your sense of smell, and your hearing will be over 100 times more focused and accurate than they've ever been.

Most important of all, you will awaken with a thirst in your throat. It will be a more potent and real thirst than you've ever felt before, but you must bind it and control it."

"We, my family and I, we have found another way to live without having to take innocent lives." This caught my interest more than anything else the voice has said so far, other than the information about becoming a...vampire. Whatever I was becoming, there was no way I would be able to harm innocent people, even to survive. It defied everything I'd ever believed.

"We are unlike most of our kind. We live off of the blood of animals, as opposed to humans, which we believe allows us to hold on to our humanity more than others. If this is the path that you choose...you'll be in good company."

As soon as that sentence was finished, something happened than I thought was even possible. I started burning _more._

_"_Oh my," the voice said, "it's starting."

The burning continued to intensify, until I was sure my existence was coming to an end. I felt relief creeping into the ends of my toes and the tips of my fingers, but in return the rest of my body just burned hotter.

My heart started beating faster and faster, as the inferno charged towards the center of my body. From what I could feel, it seems that it was going to be a losing battle for both sides; the flame would burn out, but my heart wouldn't survive the assault.

Long story short: I was dead meat.

I heard a rustling around me, and I realized that were others standing around me. I had no idea how many people were around me, but that wasn't exactly high on my list of priorities at that moment.

My heart was beating the speed of a hummingbird; how I didn't experience heart failure was beyond me.

I didn't have to wait long.

The blaze surged around my heart, and it took one final, resounding thud, then stopped.

It would never beat again.


	5. Culmination

I opened my eyes for what seemed like the first time in a century, and was greeted with a sight that I could hardly fathom. I could pick out individual dust motes in the air. I could see the individual particles in the ceiling.

Not only was I assaulted visually, I was barraged with sounds from distances that couldn't be possible. I could hear the breathing of those around me. I could hear the creasing of clothing fabric, the sound of water running underground.

And the smells! I could make the scent out of six, no, seven different individuals. Not only could I smell them individually, I could pick up the scent of where they had been. The scent of the swamp emanated from below me. From their shoes, I concluded.

You would think it would have taken me several minutes to take in all of these new senses, but I absorbed and processed everything around me in a fraction of a second. Once I had everything in place, I realized that there was only one thing important. It was the reason I had emerged from my pyre with my sanity, my one anchor to my soul.

Ashlee. I had to find her.

In even less time than it took to process the room around me, I jumped off of the surface that I had been laying on, wheeling my body at an angle and landed on my feet, in a defensive crouch, and emitted a defensive growl.

"Where. Is. My. Wife."

I was shocked at the voice that came from my throat. Gone was my normal voice; it had been replaced with a smooth baritone voice that would make radio DJs jealous. _Focus Russ! _I thought to myself.I realized pretty quick that it was easier said than done, but this wasn't the time to get distracted.

I stood, frozen, and realized I had estimated correctly, there were seven people standing around me in a half circle. I glanced down and realized that I had been laying in a bed. I quickly snapped my eyes back to my possible opponents, and held my position. Each of the individuals, four males and three females, held similar defensive stances to the one I held, but none moved to attack.

"Russ...please, calm down, we mean you no harm. Your wife is safe," the one that appeared to be their leader pleaded.

"Where is she? What have you done with her?"

I don't think they understood how much I was focused on this one fact...even after everything that's changed about me, my first priority was Ashlee's safety. My feelings and state of mind was unchanged, in that regard. In fact, I seemed to have even _more _of a heart to love her with...I could not and would not let any harm come to her.

"She is with some of our family, not far from here." The man smiled warmly, and the wheels in my new brain started turning...this man was extremely familiar. "I know that it's tearing you apart to be away from her, but bear with us. There are some things that you need to know about yourself."

I focused on who was talking to me, and did a double take. I cocked my head, and narrowed my eyes, shocked. It couldn't be...

"Dr. Cullen? Is that...you?"

It couldn't be. The man standing before me was almost glowing, he was so handsome. But...his face, his eyes...the calm, warm voice and genuinely inviting demeanor rang a bell in what I discovered to be murky memories.

It _was_ Dr. Cullen!

"Yes Russ, it's me. I was the one speaking with you earlier, if you didn't recognize me." My eyes widened until they had to be bulging out of their sockets. That meant...

"Then...everything you said was true..." I started losing it, right there. It couldn't be true, these things didn't exist! What about Ashlee...what about my _future?!_

"I'm a...I'm a _vampire?!"_

I felt the shock and knee jerk anger well up inside of me, and my vision turned red with fury. However, before I could go completely berserk, I was almost knocked backwards with a wave of euphoria. I instantly felt calmer, almost sedated, so much that I broke my defensive stance and stood up straight.

I looked over at one of the males, who looked to be a bit younger than the rest and head a head full of bronze hair. He was cracking a sideways smirk.

"You got a hold on him, Jasper?" Mr. Bronze Hair said.

"Yep, I'm hitting him with everything I've got." I looked at who the bronze haired guy had called Jasper. As soon as I got a good look at him, I almost jumped back in alarm. He had wavy blond hair, with the same amber eyes that matched everyone else in the room, and was head and shoulders taller than everyone else in the room.

It wasn't his features that alarmed me, however. With my new sight, I could make out scars all over his face, neck, and arms. This...vampire had been in more battles than one could count, and the simple fact that he was standing here, intact, was a testament to how dangerous he was.

"Don't mind Jasper, he has a certain talent for controlling moods and emotions," Dr. Cullen said. I narrowed my eyes, confused. "He can _do _that?!" I blurted.

Jasper wore a little smile, but said nothing. Clearly, he was letting Dr. Cullen do the talking.

"Yes, our kind sometimes has unique abilities. But more on that later, let me introduce you to my family."

Everyone in the room was now standing straight, and I guessed that they realized I wasn't a threat, at the moment at least. Am _I a threat? _ I wondered. Up to this point I'd kept my emotions in check, apparently with Jasper's help. I certainly wouldn't harm anyone purposefully, but I was suddenly wary of keeping a grip on myself. I shook my head, and focused back on Dr. Cullen.

"This is my wife, Esme, and my children, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Edward." Dr. Cullen waved his hand around the semi circle that was his family, and I was initially worried that I wouldn't be able to keep their names straight. After finished his small roster, I realized that I in fact would have no issue with memory. My mind felt like it was ten times the capacity that it was before...and it seemed that I wouldn't forget anything, ever.

I saw the one named Emmett lean towards Edward, and ask, "How's he doing it?"

Edward glanced at him, and replied, "I'm not sure. It's not just Jasper, he's reminding me of Bella when she first awoke..." I stared at the two of them, bewildered. Who in the world is Bella? The two brothers broke their little pow-wow, and Edward smiled at me...warmly?

"Russ," he said, "You must be dying of thirst."

Ah yes, I remembered Dr. Cullen explanation of how his family didn't harm others...I wanted to know more. Once I started thinking about it, the thirstier I felt, as if I was out in the middle of a Louisiana bog in August and hadn't had a drink in days.

"Dr. Cullen, you spoke about being able to survive without harming...humans." I stumbled over the word, and realized that the term no longer applied to me. I decided not to dwell on that fact...there would be time to break down later, when there wasn't anyone around for me to potentially harm.

"What were you talking about, exactly?" I asked.

"Well, my family and I consider ourselves vegetarians, it's our own little inside joke. We live off of the blood of animals, and build our lifestyle around preserving human life." Dr. Cullen said, looking at me critically. "To us, every life is precious."

Well, I certainly had no problems with that logic. Perhaps this family of vampires wasn't so different than me, and I knew Dr. Cullen spoke every bit of truth in regards for his passion for human life. I had lived and breathed his class...there were no questions about his morals in my mind.

"Can you...teach me how you do it? Hunt animals, I mean? I grew up hunting, but..." I looked down at my hands, which were now ashy white, and hard as granite. "I don't think I ever learned how to do it bare handed."

The black haired, pixie like female jumped up (even though she was already standing) and lit up. "I can take you! Ashlee, Bella and I are going to be such good friends! You've _got_ tell me more about her!" I stared at the small figure that was now bouncing up and down bewilderedly, not really sure _how _to respond do that.

"Uh, ok? Also, who is Bella?" I was completely lost, but Edward rolled his eyes and broke into that crooked grin that I had seen before.

"Don't mind Alice too much," he said. "She has the ability to see the future, and when she saw you and your wife coming she started bouncing off the walls just like she did when I met Bella."

"Mind reading? Really?" I asked, dubious.

"Yep!" she exclaimed. "Although I can only see as far as decisions people make. Someone changes their mind about something, my vision changes. You should have seen some of the visions I saw with Bella and Edward...geez, talking about conflicted emotions!"

I nodded, was still a bit confused. Again with this Bella character...

"Ah, she's my wife. Long story, for another time." I started to feel like an idiot for standing there with a confused face, but I couldn't help myself. It was if he...

"...can read your mind, yes. I do that," Edward said, finishing my thought for me. "Bella is...away at the moment, you can meet her later, if you like."

I shook my head, and took a full second to digest all of the new information that I had just gleaned from this quaint family of vampires. I smiled to myself...a family of mood altering, mind reading, future seeing vampires. It sounded like the premise for a pretty good story...I wondered if anyone would buy such a book.


	6. Pursuance

We walked from the room that had been my personal inferno into a long hallway that ended with French doors. (The only reason I knew what they were is because Ashlee once told me...before that they were just another set of doors to me.)

Alice and I walked down to the end of the hallway, and she opened the doors, which lead to a large balcony that appeared to oversee the side yard of the property. I heard a rush of air behind me, and looked over my shoulder to find that Jasper behind Alice and myself.

"Jasper, are you coming with us today?" Alice asked the blond, quiet vampire.

"Yes. I need to hunt, and also, don't forget that Russ is the newest of newborns...he may need my help behaving himself."

Before I could raise my voice to protest, Alice rolled her eyes, and slapped Jasper lightly on the arm. "Seriously, give the boy some credit. He didn't attack us even once, and I'd see anything serious before he even started it."

"Jasper," I started, "I'd like for you to come, I'd do the same for my...wife?" Jasper nodded, and smiled. "I forgot you haven't been filled in fully of our family, but yes, Alice is my purpose for existence."

Jasper's stating of his deepest loyalties made me think of _my _purpose for existence, and was instantly worried and saddened that I wasn't at her side.

"She _is _ok, isn't she? Ashlee, I mean?"

"Yes Russ, I checked on her a few hours before you woke up. She and the girls are fine." I wasn't completely satisfied, but I strangely had faith in the spiky-haired vampire before me, and the rest of the family that I had met.

"Now, we've put it off long enough. Let's _hunt!_" Jasper commanded.

The burning in my throat certainly didn't object to that, and I looked down at the ground three stories below. "Uh...are we going back through the house or..."

Before I could even finish my sentence, Alice ran from behind me, jumped twenty feet over the balcony, and lightly somersaulted in the air before landing on her feet below. She turned and looked up at Jasper and me, and smiled like she had just cracked a good joke.

"Wow," I said, "we can do that huh?"

Jasper mirrored the joking smile his wife wore, and nodded.

"Some of us aren't so flamboyant about it, but yes. I imagine you're about to amaze yourself with what you can do."

Jasper took his own leap off of the balcony, simply dropping off the ledge and landed easily on his feet. _Well, _I thought, _here goes._

As a human, I'm sure falling thirty feet on solid ground would have broken my ankles, feet, legs, and probably back, and probably would have been horrifying to experience. However, as a vampire, I was never out of control, and didn't fear the descent in the least. Landing on the ground was as simple as moving my arm, completely natural.

"Let's run!"

With that short exclamation, Alice pivoted on the balls of her feet and took off, at speeds exceeding logic. This time around though, I had no problem keeping my eye on the direction she moved. I decided to give it a try.

I bent my body like an Olympic runner, spent a half of a second getting a feel for my new muscles (which I would have to take a look at later...I could already feel that any excess body fat I had was gone) and took off.

Up until this point I had only had my thoughts on how my destiny had changed for the worse...indeed there were plenty of things to get upset about.

Running, however, was not one of those downsides.

"WHOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I looked to both of my sides and saw the swamp screaming by me. I had no idea how fast I was running, but most cars I had been in as a human couldn't move this fast.

It was absolutely amazing. I was moving faster than I'd ever moved in my life, yet I still managed to pick up every leaf on every tree, every individual blade of swamp grass.

Before long dry ground turned into true swamp, with water surrounding small islands spread throughout the area. I looked down and realized that I was running _over _the water while I was running, but apparently this was a bit too common for my fellow vampires, who had made a game of jumping from one islet to another while maintaining top speed and their present direction.

"Stop," Jasper commanded, and we came to a screeching halt on what looked to be the start of a drier area of the swamp.

At this point the burn in my throat was almost debilitating, and Jasper seemed to sense this, and hit me with a much less potent version of his mood altering ability.

Alice jumped over a fallen tree and walked over to me.

"Ok Russ, close your eyes and focus on the sounds and scents around you," she instructed me.

I did as she asked, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, analyzing every scent in what seemed like a five mile radius. I picked up an earthy scent that was slightly different than the swamp itself, and a beating heart that seemed to match it. Even though it smelled editable, it was less than appetizing.

"White-tailed deer, to the south of us?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure I was right.

Jasper nodded.

"Um...now what?" I asked, unsure what to do.

"Let your senses take over. Visualize the direction and location of what you're hunting, and let your instincts take it from there."

I did as he instructed, and concentrated on the group of deer that I had tracked. I tried my hardest to let the burning in my throat take over, and before I knew it, I was running in the exact direction of the herd.

I stopped less than fifty yards of the herd's location, and decided it might be wise to watch Jasper and Alice in action.

I was glad I did...it might have been my new vampire mindset, but I found their actual attack amusing.

Alice was the first into the small clearing, twirled and jumped over thirty feet into the air, flipped at the crest and landed perfectly, feet first, on the neck of a doe. The doe went down and didn't get back up.

Jasper was next, targeting one of the two big bucks. He wasn't as dramatic as Alice was, but he performed the task efficiently, breaking the buck's neck quickly.

I focused on the burn in my throat again, and targeted the other buck, who had finally registered that the herd was under attack and started to turn and run.

I wasn't nearly as efficient as Jasper, nor as eloquent as Alice (I actually wound up throwing my fist all the way through the buck) but I got the job done. I leaned down and drank my fill.

Once I was done, I threw the drained carcass aside and stood up, satisfied. The burn wasn't completely gone, but it was almost muted...still there, but only just.

Alice and Jasper finished up about the same time I did, and also rose from their respective kills. They walked over slowly, with their arms wrapped around each others waists. They seemed...happy, content with each other. It reminded me about Ashlee and myself...that sparked my curiosity.

"So Jasper, the guy that attacked me...he was a vampire, right?"

He nodded. "Yes, he was a nomad, like many of our kind. We're actually friends with some of the nomads that roam the North American continent, but we didn't know the one that your wife described."

Alice furrowed her brow, and seemed to be pouting. "I usually catch the stray nomads that roam into the area, but he had to have been young, or I would have seen him."

I must have worn a confused look on my face, because Jasper answered my question before I could ask it.

"She can envision those she's met in person easier than those that she hasn't. If your assailant was young, odds are we've never crossed his path."

"Ah, I see. So, do vampires typically spontaneously explode into flames, or was that pure luck?"

Jasper and Alice gave each other a long look, and my full attention was instantly on them. This sole event was the reason I was standing in front of them, and I still had no idea why or how it happened.

Alice shook her head, and Jasper seemed to take that as a confirmation.

"There are still many things that Carlisle wants to talk to you about, your attackers demise only one of them," Jasper said.

"Come _on, _let's get back! Russ is tired of being in the dark, I swear to everything holy we're acting as bad towards him as we did with Bella!" Alice, of course.

"Is she always this impatient?" I asked Jasper, grinning.

"Oh no, she's usually much, _much_ worse," Jasper replied, returning my grin. "You should see her in a shopping mall with the almighty plastic card...it boggles the mind."

I pictured Alice, the supernatural shopping wonder, walking about a mall carrying fifteen shopping bags on each arm with her superhuman strength, and I completely lost it. I laughed so hard that I scared a poor rabbit out of hiding, scurrying through the underbrush of the swamp.

"Oh, that's great. So, shall we?" I wound up, almost Bugs Bunny style, and took off through the bog. Jasper and Alice were right behind me.

As we were running, I was yet again curious about one of the natures of the species that I had just stepped into, and decided to voice my curiosity.

"So Jasper, your ability you have...is it normal for those of our kind to have special abilities like yours?"

Jasper sped up to run beside me, so he could talk to me as we dodged trees and leaped over stumps.

"Well, no one really knows exactly how it works. Carlisle seems to think everything that defined your personality as a human is carried over and enhanced once you've been turned. As a human, I tended to be a natural leader and could control the atmosphere of those I was leading...so, as a vampire, I can now physically alter moods of others, and also sense their moods."

I nodded, but was a bit more curious. I wanted to learn as much about myself as I could...could I have some special ability like the others had? With my luck, I doubted it.

"So how do you do it, exactly? I apologize for being so curious, but...I'd like to learn as much as I can."

Jasper nodded as he ran. "It's not a problem, I was just as curious as you when I was a newborn, but I didn't have the luxury of peace, or anyone who cared to teach me properly about the nature of our kind," he said darkly. "But that's another story, one I can divulge later, if you'd like."

"As far as my ability goes, I pretty much think of a person or event that invokes a certain emotion in me, and basically focus it on any number of people."

As Jasper explained the mechanics of his ability to me, a bit of a trance came over me, as if I was physically absorbing his information into my being. Suddenly, an instinct kicked in, and I _had_ to attempt to make Jasper's ability manifest myself.

I thought of Ashlee, and instantly I was filled with a warm, fuzzy, happy feeling, and it made me feel whole, as if everything was right in the world. I pictured her more clearly, laying in bed with me, talking into all hours of the night, and the feeling amplified dramatically. As Jasper prescribed, I pushed the emotion in every direction, and both Jasper and Alice came to a screeching halt behind me.

I stopped a half second behind them, turned and found both of them wearing faces that could only be described as euphoric. It didn't last long, though, and as soon as they both came out of it they stood before me, speechless.

Alice was the first to come out of it. "Jasper, that wasn't you, was it?" It was more of a statement than a question, but Jasper answered anyway. "No, it wasn't," he said. "How did you do that Russ?"

"I, I don't _know,_ when you described your how-to, I sort of came over a trance, like I was absorbing the information you were telling me. Then, it was as if I _had _ to give it a shot myself. Did it work?"

"Oh yeah it worked!" Alice proclaimed, as if I had just won an Olympic Medal. "But how? It doesn't _sound_ like you have the same ability as Jasper..."

"Amazing, I've never seen anything like it," Jasper said, shaking his head. "Russ, we'll have to talk to Carlisle about this, but...I think you might be able to _learn_ other vampires special abilities."

Well, this was certainly news to me...and it wasn't anything outlandish like laser beams from my eyes or anything like that, but it seemed nifty.

Of course, I had absolutely no idea how it worked, but I was hopeful I could learn.

We finished our run back, and right before we made it to the treeline that surrounded the Cullen property, I hung back. I was curious about one more thing, trivial, but I had to know.

"Ya'll go ahead, I want to check one more thing before I come back."

Alice nodded. "I'll let everyone know that we're back, so we can have a meeting and discuss everything."

With that she turned, her hand in Jaspers, skipped towards the outline of the huge mansion-like farm home.

I collected myself, then started jogging until I found what I was looking for...ah, there it was, a small pool of water.

I walked slowly to the shore of the tiny pond, and slowly peered into it. Up until this point I had no clue what I looked like to others, and I wanted to see for myself what others saw when they gazed upon me.

The reflection that peered back to me was almost alien, and I visibly jumped when I saw the waters reflection. I looked again, slower this time, at my face.

I was still me, but...wow. I moved my index finger over my jaw, which was now much more defined than it had been. My hair was still short and brown, but now had flecks of gold through it, and seemed to be naturally spikier than the fluffy, full hair that I had as a human. My nose was still roughly the same, the somewhat wide nose that came with my quarter Hispanic heritage. My face seemed...handsome?

Until you looked at my eyes.

I stared at my reflection long and hard. My eyes weren't the light amber color that the Cullen family shared, nor were they the deep crimson of Ethans hungry eyes.

They were bright red, like the color of a stop sign.

I shook my head, disgusted with my eyes. I was a freak...not even the others had eyes like mine. I wondered why I was unique.

Determined to finish examining myself, I took a long, hard look at my body for the first time, and lifted my shirt to examine my torso.

The manual laborers body was gone. In it's place was a body cut from granite, shaped into a physique that muscle heads spent their entire lives in a gym attempting to obtain. I ran my hand over my rock hard abs, and lightly slapped my muscle-bound, wide chest, testing it. It had zero give.

Now curious (yet again) I pulled my sleeves back from the t-shirt I was wearing to examine my arms. I was not disappointed as I flexed my bicep, forming a huge mound atop of the bone beneath.

_Well, _I thought to myself, _these all look nice in theory, but I wonder how well they work? _

I targeted the nearest tree, drew my hand back and hit it, open palm. The tree came crashing down, falling toward the exact position where I was standing. _Trial by fire_, I thought wryly.

Right before the tree came down and crushed me, I lifted my hands over my head and easily caught the falling tree, as easily as catching a beach ball. I couldn't help myself, and started giggling like a school girl as I tossed the tree to the side.

_Ah, enough playing for now,_ I thought. I had to get back to the Cullen house and figure out where to go from there, and more importantly how I was going to control myself enough to be near the love of my life.

Vampire or not, without her, I was less than nothing.


End file.
